Method of Playing Correspondence Poker

ABSTRACT

A method of playing correspondence poker over a communications network, having a user interface displaying multiple poker hands simultaneously, so that a player can continue playing some hands while waiting for his/her turn in others. The user interface displays a hand history for each displayed hand, so that the player does not need to memorize the earlier actions in the game but instead can see from the interface what had previously happened in the hand. Players are not required to be connected to a game server when it is not their turn, and when it is their turn they are given a reasonable amount of time to connect to the server and decide on their next moves.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/71,463, filed Apr. 22, 2009, for ONLINE CORRESPONDENCE POKER, by Teppo V Salonen, included by reference herein and for which benefit of the priority date is hereby claimed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the past decade poker has evolved in to a game that is now more often played virtually over the internet than it is played in traditional card rooms and casinos. This transformation has not only made it more convenient for people to play the game, but it has also improved the game experience by having many time-consuming tasks of the dealer being handled by fast computer systems. Still, despite of the technological advancements, online poker platforms have not provided much more than a virtual version of the game that is otherwise played exactly the same way as it would be played in a live environment. This means that some of the other limitations of live poker also exist in online poker today.

Poker is inherently a turn-based game that theoretically does not require real-time participation from the players, and only needs players to be available when it is their turn to act. In a live environment it would undoubtedly make little sense to try to run the game if no more than one player was present at a time, but surprisingly online poker rooms too have taken it for granted that all players are needed at all times. Any player who does not respond quickly enough when it is their turn (usually within less than a minute), or gets disconnected from the server while in the middle of a hand, will automatically lose the hand (with the possible exception of “disconnect protection” that is sometimes used to protect players from short accidental disconnections). Such requirements are limiting factors for players from different time zones, often forcing them to play during less convenient times of the day (e.g. in the middle of the night). Further, a turn-based game that is played in real-time also means that in a standard 10-player poker game each player will be active participants only about 10% of the total time spent with the game, while the remaining 90% of the time players have to wait idle for their next turn, which leads to significant amounts of time wasted for all players.

So called correspondence games on the other hand, most notably correspondence chess, do not require real-time participation from the players. Correspondence chess is known to have been played for centuries over postal mail, and more recently correspondence games too have evolved with the technology and are nowadays often played over the internet for example via email. The obvious downside of correspondence games is that it takes a much longer time to finish a game compared to playing the game in real-time.

While any turn-based game can in theory be played in correspondence format, poker has never been considered an ideal candidate for a correspondence game simply because an overly slow-paced poker game would not be able to provide statistically meaningful results in any reasonable amount of time. In contrast to chess, where one game is usually enough to tell who is the better player, poker has a significant luck element which means that the winner of any one hand is primarily determined by luck, and a much larger number of hands (possibly thousands) will be needed for players to conclude who is the real winner in the game.

It would be advantageous to provide a method of playing correspondence poker where players can play hundreds of tables simultaneously and continue playing even when their opponents are offline.

It would also be advantageous to provide a method of playing correspondence poker where players don't have to memorize how each hand has played out so far, even if the hands were started days ago.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

In the prior art, several methods of playing online poker have been developed. For example, IRC poker was a form of poker played over the IRC chat network in the late 1990's. And soon after Planet Poker became the first online casino to offer real money poker games on the internet in 1998. Some of the biggest online poker rooms that are fully operational today include Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker, and Party Poker to name a few. However, none of the poker rooms provide any method for playing correspondence poker. Instead, they require all players to be online simultaneously and play the games in real-time.

Several methods of playing correspondence games online, most notoriously correspondence chess, have also been developed in the prior art. An example of a correspondence chess server is found at chess.com, but like almost all other correspondence game servers, it does not support any form of poker.

An example closest to the invention was found at Free Internet Correspondence Games Server, ficgs.com, which recently added Texas Hold'em to their supported games (the exact date is unknown and it may predate the invention). However, their solution lacks the ability to play multiple games simultaneously in a single view, which is a critical component of the invention enabling multiple slow paced poker games to be converted into one fast paced action filled gaming experience.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one embodiment, there is provided a method of playing correspondence poker over an internet connection, having a user interface displaying multiple poker hands simultaneously, so that a player can continue playing some hands while waiting for his/her turn in the other hands. The user interface displays a hand history for each displayed hand, so that the player does not need to memorize the earlier actions in the game but instead can see from the interface what had previously happened in the hand. Players are not required to be connected to a game server when it is not their turn, and when it is their turn they are given a reasonable amount of time to connect to the server and decide on their next moves.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A complete understanding of the present invention may be obtained by reference to the accompanying drawings, when considered in conjunction with the subsequent, detailed description, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of the overall network game system of one embodiment;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of the user interface of one embodiment; and

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the process according to one embodiment.

For purposes of clarity and brevity, like elements and components will bear the same designations and numbering throughout the Figures.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIRST EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of the overall network game system of one embodiment. A network game system of this embodiment can be divided into a game server 10 and plurality of game clients 12. These components are connected by a communications network 16 such as common public network or local network. Although the communications network 16 is not specifically specified in terms of type, the following description is based on the internet in view of publicity and simplicity of use.

Although the game server 10 may usually be single, a plurality of game servers 10 can be installed in consideration of processing capacity. There are usually as many game clients 12 as there are users who may or may not be logged in to the game server 10 at any given time. A user interface 14 of the game clients 12 can be implemented by a web browser or a software program. In the web browser implementation the server-client communication can be implemented by using HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) running on TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) as a base protocol. The web browser or software program implementing the user interface 14 is usually installed on a personal computer or on a cell phone, although other devices having access to the communications network 16 can be used as well.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of the user interface 14 of one embodiment. In FIG. 2, display area includes game status information rows 20 for multiple poker hands with each row representing a separate hand. The column indicators include strategic information columns 24 containing the information a player needs for making a decision in each hand. Action columns 26 show all possible actions the player can take in a given hand. Additional information columns 22 display other useful information that is not critical for playing the game.

Hole card column 36 displays the cards dealt to the player. Community card column 38 displays the cards dealt on the board. The cards can be displayed graphically using images of playing cards, or by using symbols to represent the ranks and suits of the cards. In this embodiment each card is represented by two characters, one character for the rank and another character for the suit. Ranks are either numeric values between 2 and 9, or one of the following capital letters: T for Ten, J for Jack, Q for Queen, K for King, and A for Ace. Suits are represented by of the following lower case letters: s for Spades, c for Clubs, h for Hearts, and d for Diamonds.

Betting action column 42 displays all actions made by any player since the beginning of each hand. In this embodiment the first line contains all “preflop” actions, the second line contains all “flop” actions, the third line contains all “turn” actions, and the fourth line contains all “river” actions. The actions are separated by a whitespace, and the first two actions are numbers representing the size of the small blind and the big blind. All actions following the small and big blind are represented by a letter, followed by a number if it is needed to denote the size of a bet or a raise. The letters representing different actions are: f for fold, k for check, c for call, b for bet, r for raise.

Opponent column 34 displays the name and remaining stack size of each opponent. Self column 32 displays player's own position and stack size. Pot column 40 displays the current size of the pot in each hand.

Action columns 26 display all possible game actions the player can take, including the option to fold 44, call 46, or raise 48. Options to check and bet are logically equivalent to call and raise options and therefore omitted. Action columns 26 also contain input mechanisms for the player to select and submit his next actions. In the web browser based implementation the user input mechanism can be implemented as an HTML form with check boxes or radio buttons for selecting the action, and text fields for entering the amount to bet or raise.

The user interface 14 can contain many additional information columns, such as a hand ID column 28 displaying a unique identification number for each hand, and a time left column 30 displaying the amount of time the player has left before having to make his or her next move. A plurality of opponents can also exist in any one hand, even though the game is often played against one opponent only. The layout of the information in FIG. 2 is to be considered merely an example and a different layout could also be used.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the process according to one embodiment. In the first step 50 the user causes his or her computer to act as a game client 12 by connecting to the game server 10 and logging in to the game server 10 using his or her username and password. This can be done either by the means of a web browser or through a software program loaded in the user's computer.

At step 52 the games that are currently in play are loaded from the game server 10 and displayed to the user via the user interface 14 illustrated in FIG. 2. The user interface 14 shown in FIG. 2 and generated in step 52 includes information about the games and means for user to select his next move in each game currently in play.

At step 54 the user, using a mouse, keyboard, or other such I/O device makes his or her moves in the games in play. This sends the action commands to the game server 10 over the communications network 16.

At step 56 the game server 10, in response to receiving the action commands, updates the game status information for each game according to the commands received from the user.

At step 58 the game server 10 checks if any of the games ended either as a result of the user's actions or due the user not making his or her action within the given time limit, and the server then awards the winnings to the winning player's account accordingly.

At step 60 the user has the option to start new games. The new games can either replace the games that might have ended as a result of his or her last action, or be started in addition to the games that are already in progress so that more games can be played simultaneously.

Any new games the user has requested are started at step 62, and the user can continue playing the games by going back to step 52. Starting of the new games can also be done automatically by the game server 10, if the user has elected for a new game to be started whenever one game ends.

Since other modifications and changes varied to fit particular operating requirements and environments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention is not considered limited to the example chosen for purposes of disclosure, and covers all changes and modifications which do not constitute departures from the true spirit and scope of this invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is desired to be protected by Letters Patent is presented in the subsequently appended claims. 

1. A method of playing correspondence poker, comprising: (a) means for hosting a plurality of multiplayer correspondence poker games by performing the following functions: (i) enabling players to start new games and to join existing games (ii) generating and storing status information regarding current state of said games (iii) communicating said status information to players in said games (iv) receiving moves from players whose turn it is and processing said moves (v) evaluating results of said games and awarding winning players; (b) means for a player to participate in a plurality of correspondence poker games by performing the following functions: (i) starting new games and joining existing games (ii) receiving status information regarding current states of said games (iii) electronically displaying said status information to said player (iv) transmitting said player's moves in said games; and (c) means for displaying status information simultaneously for plurality of correspondence poker games, consisting: (i) status information regarding current states of said games (ii) status information regarding all states said games have been in since the beginning of said games.
 2. A method of playing correspondence poker, comprising: (a) a game server, for hosting a plurality of multiplayer correspondence poker games by performing the following functions: (i) enabling players to start new games and to join existing games (ii) generating and storing status information regarding current state of said games (iii) communicating said status information to players in said games (iv) receiving moves from players whose turn it is and processing said moves (v) evaluating results of said games and awarding winning players; (b) a game client, for a player to participate in a plurality of correspondence poker games by performing the following functions: (i) starting new games and joining existing games (ii) receiving status information regarding current states of said games (iii) electronically displaying said status information to said player (iv) transmitting said player's moves in said games; and (c) a user interface, for displaying status information simultaneously for plurality of correspondence poker games, consisting: (i) status information regarding current states of said games (ii) status information regarding all states said games have been in since the beginning of said games, visually constructed to said game client.
 3. The method of playing correspondence poker as recited in claim 2, wherein said game client has characteristics selected from the following group: personal computer, and cell phone; and said user interface has characteristics selected from the following group: software program, and web application. 